LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 8 - Judge Park Chang-seok
Chapter 8 Judge Park Chang-seok
“Hello, I’m Assemblyman Park Chang-seok from the Player Headquarters.”
The bearded man extended his large hand.
Baek Jin-woo shook it awkwardly.
“Oh, yes.”
“I apologize for my rudeness earlier. Thanks to you, we were able to deal with that vicious terrorist.”
“No, not at all.”
I just did it to save myself.
As Jin-woo scratched his head, the bearded man smiled, showing his teeth.
“Are you affiliated with any organization?”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, you’re not part of a guild? I haven’t seen you at headquarters, so… that means you’re in free agency, right?”
Free agency?
Was he talking about being a free agent?
“Uh…”
How should I explain this?
He’s asking about my affiliation, but I haven’t even registered yet…
This is awkward.
“I understand it might seem intrusive to ask for personal information, but this is to offer a reward from headquarters.”
“A reward?”
Jin-woo’s eyes lit up.
He was in need of so many things right now.
He had no money, no runes, and no summoning scrolls.
There was no way he could refuse an offer like this.
“Haha, yes. In a way, you saved my life and helped us clean up the gang. Of course, you should be rewarded. However, we need to confirm your identity. I hope you understand.”
Park Chang-seok had no choice either.
To get approval from headquarters, they needed appropriate data and to follow procedures.
“Well… I haven’t registered with headquarters yet. Is that still okay?”
“What?”
Park Chang-seok blinked.
The man who had helped him with just a few words, despite him being a C-rank summoner, was an unregistered player?
He looked at Jin-woo with a suspicious gaze.
But Jin-woo didn’t seem concerned.
He was confident.
‘Well, maybe…’
It could be that he was a player who hadn’t been active last year.
This law had only been established this year, so there were occasional cases like this.
“Hmm, do you have any ID?”
As long as they had identity information, they could look everything up.
“Yes, here you go.”
Swoosh.
Jin-woo opened his wallet and handed over his ID card.
He had thought about leaving, but with the offer of a reward, he couldn’t refuse.
He had to comply.
If he refused now, it would only cause misunderstandings.
After capturing the ID, the bearded man kindly bowed his head.
“Thank you again. Once the identity check is complete, you’ll receive a reward in accordance with our internal regulations.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes.”
The bearded man smiled once more.
***
The place where Jin-woo and the citizens had left.
Thud! Thud!
“Senior!”
“Are you okay, sir?”
The headquarters players had finally arrived.
It had been quite a while since the emergency alarm had gone off.
“Hey, you punks.”
Park Chang-seok spoke irritably.
“A situation like this happened right next to headquarters, and you didn’t rush over here? Why are you so late? You lazy bastards.”
“We’re, we’re sorry.”
“It’s already over. You clean up the mess.”
“What about the terrorist?”
“Handled.”
Park Chang-seok glanced to the side.
His C-rank Woodman was tidying up its roots with a satisfied expression.
“I gave him as nourishment.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“If you don’t believe me, check the CCTV footage. You know how many people witnessed it firsthand.”
“Haha, that’s true, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Park Chang-seok answered nonchalantly.
The young man from earlier still lingered in his mind.
– “That’s not right, the timing of the Flame Turtle’s skill is off.”
– “They’re casting ‘Fire Resistance’ on the Blood Orc from behind. Why would you use your skill at that moment…?”
In a moment of crisis.
He had calmly and confidently provided the perfect solution.
On top of that, he accurately knew the names of the summons and skills, such as ‘Flame Turtle,’ ‘Blood Orc,’ and ‘Fire Resistance.’
And this was from an unregistered player.
‘No matter how much I think about it, something’s strange.’
Ring, ring!
Park Chang-seok made a call to someone.
It was a junior colleague in the headquarters’ information department.
“Hey.”
“I just sent over a capture, right?”
“Yeah, check out this person, Baek Jin-woo.”
***
After leaving the café, Jin-woo stopped by a nearby bakery and bought a few cream buns.
He then made his way to a secluded corner of a nearby park.
“You can talk now.”
– “Phew, finally! I thought I was going to die!”
Cute little Lamba let out a deep breath as if she had been holding it in for too long.
– “I thought my mouth was going to explode from not being able to talk! So this is what it feels like to be itchy!”
“You did well. Here’s some bread.”
– “Kyaaa! Cream bun!”
For the record, Wind Fairy’s favorite food is bread.
Specifically, fresh cream bread.
“I’m giving it to you because you held back. If you keep working hard, I’ll buy you more.”
– “I love it! Yum, yum!”
Chomp chomp!
The tiny fairy ravenously devoured the bread.
It was amazing how all of that could fit in her small body.
Anyway.
Lamba was quite convenient.
Unlike most players who had conflicts with their summons, all issues could be resolved with just one piece of bread.
Of course, there had been many trial and error moments before he discovered that fresh cream bread was her favorite food.
‘There shouldn’t be any problems, right?’
He hadn’t planned on stepping up, but he had to act in order to survive.
If this caused any trouble, he’d just have to deal with it.
“Sigh.”
Jin-woo let out a short sigh.
He needed to hunt soon.
This game, which had become reality, was more complicated than he expected.
At least in the game, there weren’t insane terrorists or governments trying to control everything.
‘First, I’ll register and start gathering as many summoning scrolls as possible.’
Out of the summons Jin-woo had previously owned, 10 had been removed due to balance patches.
The Wind Fairy, Training Instructor, Explosive Dragon Sage, Little Giant, Dampir, Cyclone Slayer, Rune Dwarf, Aso, Demon Cat, and the Dragon of Destruction…
The extent of how overpowered they were will be explained later.
‘First, I need to get the Training Instructor and Explosive Dragon Sage.’
The Training Instructor was E-rank, and the Explosive Dragon Sage was D-rank.
This meant that if he opened a lot of low-rank summoning scrolls, he’d eventually obtain them.
The Little Giant, on the other hand, was C-rank or higher, so he couldn’t obtain it with low-rank scrolls.
– “Phew! All done! Thank you, Jin-woo! This is the first time I’ve had bread in ages!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
– “So, what now?”
“What do you mean? After eating, we have to move.”
By the way, summons can be trained.
No matter how good a summon’s rank is, it won’t become strong without training.
In Lamba’s case, she needed to strengthen her arm muscles.
Only then would she be able to swing her staff faster.
“You know what I mean. With your current attack speed, you can’t even clear the first floor of the Tower of Trials, let alone the 10th floor.”
– “Tsk! Is that why you fed me bread?”
“Let’s do it together.”
With a clenched fist, Jin-woo began stretching.
He squatted, jumped in place, did push-ups, and lightly practiced his footwork.
He rotated his waist and thoroughly checked his joints and muscles.
‘No matter what, you need a strong body.’
Having lost a lot of muscle from lying down for three years, he needed to build it back up.
He also needed to increase his cardiovascular endurance.
Without stamina?
He wouldn’t be able to pull all-nighters, and his concentration would drop.
Stamina was the foundation of a Ranker.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Beside Jin-woo, Lamba also swung her staff cutely as they trained.
***
– “About that person you asked me to look into, Baek Jin-woo.”
“Yeah.”
– “He’s an unregistered player. And he has records of being hospitalized for three years due to a traffic accident.”
“What?”
Park Chang-seok’s brow furrowed as he received the report over the phone.
“Are you sure? Three years would’ve been right around the time the world started to change.”
The day when all of humanity awakened.
– “I’m sure. He was discharged not long ago. Interestingly, he applied for player registration right after being discharged.”
What?
Park Chang-seok pulled a file out of his bag.
The player registration waiting list.
He held the phone with his shoulder and flipped through the pages with a lick on his finger, and there it was.
Baek Jin-woo’s application.
“It’s true?”
– “Yes, is something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing like that. Who’s the judge assigned for this month?”
– “Judge Oh Ah-reum.”
“Oh Ah-reum? She has training scheduled for tomorrow, right?”
– “Yes, today is the deadline.”
“Tell them I’ll be taking over for this session.”
– “Pardon?”
“Don’t ask why.”
– “Understood.”
Something smelled fishy.
He had been in the hospital for three years, then immediately applied for registration.
And he seemed to have an in-depth knowledge of summoning?
It had to be one of two things.
He was either a genius or a gamer.
‘A gamer.’
This referred to those who had played the game 「Battle of Summoners」 before awakening.
Whether they had played for a year or just three months, they were all called gamers.
Currently, nearly 70% of the top-ranked players were gamers.
It was an overwhelming percentage.
“Sigh.”
Park Chang-seok’s lifelong dream was to find talents that would bring glory to South Korea.
He wanted to find a hero who could lift South Korea out of its constant bottom-ranking status in the Player Wars.
And.
His instincts told him that Baek Jin-woo might be such a talent.
‘No, don’t get too excited.’
Nothing was certain yet.
‘I’ll just have to meet him again tomorrow.’
Park Chang-seok clenched the registration file tightly in his hand.
***
The next day.
[Hello, Baek Jin-woo. This is Player Headquarters.]
[Please gather at the third auditorium of Player Headquarters by 9 a.m.]
[A map has been attached.]
[A schedule has been attached.]
Jin-woo arrived at headquarters 10 minutes early after receiving the message.
Quite a lot of people had gathered.
Around 1,000, perhaps?
He would take the training with them, then complete the written and practical tests.
And after that?
He’d have to fight three matches at the end-of-the-month Player Battle, and if he ranked in the top 50, he’d finally become an official player and be able to enter dungeons.
Swoosh.
He sat down in an appropriate spot.
“Haha, back in my day, they called me the Dungeon Killer! I just didn’t get automatically registered because I took a break. Just watch, I’ll be registered as number one this month.”
“Ha, this new law is so annoying, isn’t it? My summon is C-rank, and yet I still have to go through this training? I could make it as a Ranker if I wanted to.”
“I should’ve gone through a few more dungeons last year.”
“I used to play Battle of Summoners when I was younger.”
“Battle of Summoners? Whoa, you were a gamer?”
“Yeah, haha. I only played for about a month, though…”
“Still… I’ve heard that gamers fight really well.”
Jin-woo could hear the hopefuls introducing themselves and boasting.
Or maybe it wasn’t boasting?
Most of them seemed to have a decent amount of experience.
There was an air of confidence in the way they sat.
‘Hmm.’
This might not be as easy as I thought.
I’ll have to see how they conduct the test.
‘Eh, but come on.’
After all, who was Baek Jin-woo?
One Heaven!
He was JinuGod, once called the “Heaven” of 「Battle of Summoners」!
Was there anyone here who could match his knowledge in this field?
Probably not.
How much time had passed?
Thud, thud!
The microphone reverberated.
– “Alright, has everyone gathered?”
Someone began speaking from the front.
– “Nice to meet you. I’m Park Chang-seok, a judge here at headquarters.”
Huh?
That guy!
Jin-woo’s eyes widened.
‘He’s a judge?’
***
The training proceeded smoothly.
The content was very basic!
For Baek Jin-woo, who had once been ranked number one in the world, it was boring.
Most of the combination techniques and theories currently taught to Rankers had been established by Jin-woo in the past.
And even then, he had only revealed some of the solvable theories, while the truly important information was still locked away in Jin-woo’s mind.
‘Of course.’
「Battle of Summoners」 was a competitive game.
There had never been a reason for him to teach other Rankers his important information and know-how.
Well, there were times when he helped the One Heaven, Five Emperors gang out because he was close to them.
But that was it.
The true insider knowledge that had made him “One Heaven” was never revealed.
‘This is boring.’
When the training ended, they were given a one-hour lunch break.
“Excuse me.”
A staff member approached Jin-woo.
“Yes?”
“Uh… the judge would like to speak with you for a moment.”